“Incoming!” Sloane’s shout came out of nowhere. I looked to my left and right, but I didn’t see her. Bain slowly pointed upward with the cigarette in his hand, and I saw Sloane’s panicked face looming over me from the top of the bleachers.
And that was when I heard the chuckle from Bain and the angry shout from Isaiah. My throat closed, and my breathing stuttered. My entire body felt as if it were plunged into lava as I stared wide-eyed at Isaiah with his hand around Bain’s throat as he pushed him up against the same metal pole I had been resting on a few minutes ago. “What did I fucking say would happen the next time you looked at her?” Isaiah cracked his neck, and I saw the veins bulging with his angry, hot blood.
Bain laughed, although it was hard to hear because Isaiah’s fingers were plunged deep into his neck. He let up for a second only for Bain to say, “Hey, man...take it up with her. She asked to talk to me.”
Shit.
Isaiah’s hand still stayed against Bain’s throat as he whipped his head to me and glared with those ice-blue eyes. Bain made no move to get out of his grasp. If anything, he looked like he enjoyed it. “You asked to talk to him?”
“Let him go, Isaiah.” My heart was flying through my chest as I tried to sort through what Bain had said to me. You’re right where I need you to be. That sent panic right into my bloodstream. Adrenaline pumped, and I suddenly felt lightheaded. “Let him go! You’re on probation! Do you really want to get caught in the middle of a fight during lacrosse practice?!” With Bain’s half-threat in my head, I knew now, more than ever, that I needed to get the hell away from this school and anything relating to Richard. My eyes locked onto Isaiah, and I hoped he knew me well enough to know that there was something else going on here.
“Better listen to her. Wouldn’t want to get expelled now, would you?”
Isaiah kept his stare on me, and even from several feet away, I could see the blue in his eyes turn dark. He was angry, but I wasn’t sure what he expected from me. He couldn’t push me away and then pull me in again. I wasn’t a tug-of-war rope. He didn’t know me at all if he thought I was going to stay in line and keep silent after knowing what I did now. I would not be the girl Richard tried to mold me into. Isaiah might not have realized it, but he was asking the same of me.
“Let him go,” I said through gritted teeth, and Isaiah reluctantly dropped his hand.
Bain winked at me, and I turned away briefly, still repeating his venomous words in my head.
“I swear to God, Bain,” Isaiah seethed under his breath as he placed his fisted hands on his hips. “I hope you know that the only reason I’m sparing you is because I need you.”
Bain’s head tilted in a cynical way, but he said nothing as he flicked his cigarette underneath the bleachers and turned around. Before he got too far, he called over his shoulder, “Don’t fucking take my car again, Gemma.”
Isaiah didn’t look surprised at all by the words that came from Bain’s mouth. Instead, he looked at me with blinding disappointment. I felt myself retreat for a moment. But no. I wasn’t going to apologize for anything. Isaiah had no right. He had no right to interject himself in this any longer. I didn’t owe him anything.
“What the fuck was that about?” He stalked over to me quickly, but I didn’t take a step back. I wasn’t afraid of Isaiah. Was I conflicted with him? Yes. Did I think he was keeping things from me? Yes. But I wasn’t afraid of him. “I told you that you shouldn’t be anywhere near this, Gemma. That’s why I’m fucking staying away from you! To keep you out of this entire thing! You don’t know what you’re messing with.”
I scoffed, crossing my arms over my chest in a bratty way, ignoring how my heart buzzed with him only feet away. “But I am in this, Isaiah! I’ve been in the middle of this the entire time! Which I’m sure you knew well before you dipped your cock inside me!”
I paused. Did I really just say that out loud?! Glancing around, I felt my cheeks warm, hoping that no one heard what I’d just said.
“Oh, for fuck’s sake.” Isaiah turned away, his rising chest climbing in speed. “You should know me better than that.”
“But I don’t!” I shouted, taking a step closer to him. He sliced his glare over to me, but I didn’t hold back. “I thought I did, but I don’t. You only show me what you want. You hide things. I get it.” My voice was a little softer, but I was still feeling the rage climb. “I hide things too. It just is what it is.”
Isaiah’s hands came up, and he ran them through his sweaty hair, and I could sense the frustration, but I was frustrated too.
“I told you that I was done acting the way people expected of me. I had a moment of weakness Friday in the library, which is now evident after your show in the dining hall today. You made me feel weak and ashamed, and I will be damned if I am portrayed as weak again. I’ve been weak for almost eighteen years now, and I’m done. I don’t owe you anything, and I surely don’t owe you an explanation.” I took a hefty step back from him because I could feel his warmth, and I didn’t want to crave it. I didn’t want to glance at his lips and feel the indignity that would come with it. I didn’t need Isaiah Underwood to pick up my pieces and sort through my life—even if our paths were intertwined at some point or another.
Isaiah stood there, taking in my words one by one, with his features even and unreadable. Typical. I had no idea what was going through his mind, but I wasn’t sticking around to figure it out.
“I will see you in the library for tutoring—unless you would like to change tutors and have Breanna tutor you now? Just let me know. As long as you get me what I asked for, I don’t really care what you do.”
The lie tasted like the past, and I hated that I was being that version of myself again. I’d always been myself around him. I couldn’t not be myself around him, which was probably why I craved him so much. My walls fell when we were alone, and the truth always seemed to spew from my mouth one way or another. But those walls were up right now, and I was lying through my teeth. His little brother came to mind, and the truth was, I did care what Isaiah did. I didn’t want him to change tutors, because there was so much more than tutoring going on, and would anyone else understand or even agree to do what he had asked of me? Despite everything, I would still cover for him. I would lie without any hesitation or thought to repercussions, and that drove me mad because it wasn’t for my sake—it was for his. A part of my heart was latched onto his whether I liked it or not.
Isaiah let out a guttural sound and clenched his eyes shut. He quickly turned around, gripping the back of his neck, and stomped away, leaving me there feeling anything but satisfied.